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Michigan agriculture leaders say lost soybean exports could damage entire farm economy

Agriculture leaders say the lack of U.S. soybean exports will have ripple effects across commodities heading into next year.

Farmers for Free Trade Executive Director Brian Kuehl says losing China’s demand for 14 billion bushels of soybeans is not a short-term disruption that can be recouped.

“This notion that if we just deal with short-term pain, we’ll have long-term gain, I think it’s fundamentally flawed,” he says. “If we don’t do this right, we can lose markets forever, and we can find ourselves in a much weakened competitive position, and there’s not a long-term gain.”

Michigan Agriculture Commodities Vice President Robert Geers says trade certainty is fundamental for farmers to operate.

“Our customers are making plans 6 to 8 months ahead of time,” he shares. “They’re thinking about next spring already. They’re planting a crop once a year. They’re raising a crop once a year, and they’re harvesting a crop once a year.”

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring tells Brownfield the lack of predictability has cost several commodities market share, pointing to dry beans.

“Some of those other beans might have greater potential there to hit those markets,” he says is already happening. “They might be of some slightly diminished quality. They might not have the brand recognition, the logistics might not be there in the same kind of ways, but they’re more predictable markets.”

Michigan is the nation’s largest producer of black beans, which are mainly sold to Mexico.

Boring says trade disputes have put a significant strain on the state’s economy in several ways.

“It’s more than just soybeans,” he emphasizes. “It’s the dry bean market. It’s a lot of our fruit and vegetables. We’ve seen decreased exports in a number of our specialty crops. That’s a real concern for growers. It’s a concern for so many processors that we have of fruit and vegetables, and grains.”

Michigan Agribusiness Association Executive Director Chuck Lippstreu says it’s taken decades for the state to achieve record exports, and keeping trade flowing is critical for the success of the entire industry.

The comments came during a Farmers for Free Trade event Tuesday in Michigan, part of the group’s “Motorcade for Free Trade” tour across the Midwest, highlighting the value of stable agricultural trade policies.